Automatic registering device.



No. 878,835. I PATENTED FEB.11, 190's.

R. TANNBR.

AUTOMATIC REGISTERING DEVICE APPLICATION FILED MAR. 23, 1907.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

No. 878,835. ,PATENTEDPEB. 11, 1908.

- R. TANNBR.

AUTOMATIC REGISTERING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 28. 1907.

I I 2 snnms-snsnw 2.

INVENTOR 70/1 17 e1 AUTOMATIG nners rnnme DEVICE. 7

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 1 1, 1908.

Application filed March 23. 1907- Serial No. 364-120. I

To all whom it mayconcern;

'Be it known that I, RICHARD TANNER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lincoln, in the county of Lancaster and State of Nebraska, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Register: ing Devices; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertainsto make and use the same.

vtridge used in connection with a rifle.

My invention relates to automatic re istering devices and more particularly to t at class adapted to be used in connection with repeating firearms and my object is to provi e means for indicating the number of cartridges remaining in the magazine of the firearm.

A further objectis to rovide means for automatically 0 crating t e indicator with each reloading o the firearm.

Other objects and advantages will be here inafter referred to and more particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accom anying drawings which are made a part oft iis application, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a repeating rifle showing my improved indicator secured thereto. Fig 2 is a vertical sectional view as seen on line 22 Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an elevation of the indicator on an enlarged scale showing the dial removed and parts of the device in section, Fig. 4 is a detail sectional view on an enlarged scale as seen on line 4-4 Fig. 3. and, Fig. 5, is a perspective view of a portion of a repeating rifle, parts thereof being shown in sections.

Referring to the drawings in which similar reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, 1 indi-. cates the stock of a rifle to which is secured a barrel 2, said stock and barrel constituting the usual well known form of repeating rifle, a magazine 3'being secured to the under side of the barrel to receive the usual form of cairn firearms of this class, that "portion of the stock immediately in the rear of the breech of the gun is provided with a cavity 4 in which is located the usual form of loading block 5, which normally. rests in the lower portion ofthe cavity and is provided with a slot 6 which is adapted to register with the openingin the magazine when the block is in its lowered position so that the cartridge expelled from the magazine will rest in the slot downwardly and forwardly,

'a bearing in the central portion 0 and be in line with the bore in the barrel when the loadin block is elevated.

The loading b ock 5 is adapted to be elevated in any preferred manner as by the operation of swinging the trigger guard 7 said tri ger guard being connected to the loading block by means of the usual form of swingin finger 7 and as the trigger guard is lowere the breech pin 8 is moved longitudinally out of the cavity 4 thereby ermitting the loadin block' to move upwardly in the cavity untfi the cartridge in the slot 6 is disposed between the breech pin 8 and the bore in the barrel, when by returning the trigl er guard to its initial position, the breec pin will again be moved into. the cavity and the cartrid e forced into thebore of the barrel when t e loading block 5 will again descend to its initial position and receive another cartridge from the magazine.

In hunting certain classes of large game it is always desirable to know the number of cartridges remaining in the magazine as it frequently happens that the hunter is required to fire several shots at close ran e and whose life depends upon having a s cient number of cartrid es to slay the animal before reaching the unter and to this end I have provided my. improved form of register which consists of a casing!) which is secured to a plate 10, said plate being provided with a plurality of bores 11 to receive screws 12,

the inner ends of said screws bein ada ted .to engage bores in the metal portlon o the ratchet whee 14 throughthe central portion of which and, the dial 13is directed a pivot pin 15, the inner end of said pivot finding the plate serving to hol the dial in position on the ledge.

Inorder to automatically operate the dial and 'cause the same to positively rotate in one direction I pivotally mount within the casing 9 and upon the plate 10, a rocking beam 16, said beamextending an equal distance to each side of its pivot point 17 and has secured to one end thereof apawl 18, the free end of the pawl being adapted to cm preferably integral therewith a 18 is returned to its initial position, the en' the extreme upper end of the pitman being also tapered to engage a beveled section- 26 ment with thepitman 19 by means of a ber to the number of cartridges held by the to be entered in the bore ofthe barrel, the

gage the ratchet Wheel and cause the same to 1 rotate when the beam 16 is rocked.

The 0 posite end of the beam 16 has secured t iereto a pitman 19, the free end of which is disposed through a sliding block 20,

enlarged and tapered on its inner face as shown at 21, with which is adapted to engage the tapered end 22 of a plunger 23.

The plunger 23 extends at right angles to the pitman 19 and is longitudinally movably mounted in a-socket 24 which is in turn entered through a bore 25 in the plate 10. The extreme inner end of the plunger 23 is on the outer face ol'one wall of the loading block 5 so that when said loading block is elevated, the plunger will be moved inwardly into engagement with the tapered end of the pitman 19. and the plunger 23 is held against rotation and held into engages rin finger 27, one end of which is fixed to t e p unger and the opposite end thereof to. the late 10.

en the itman 19 is given a longitudinal thrust to roc the beam 16, the pawl 18 will rotate the ratchet wheel 14 and dial secured thereto a certain distance and in order to return the awl, rocking beam and pitman to their initlal positions, I provide a notch 28 in one edge of the awl 18 in which is entered one end of a spring arm 29, that portion of the sprin arm engaging the notch being at right ang es to the body portion of the spring arm .)and the two parts are connected together by a spiral section 30 while the upper end of the s ring arm 29 is looped around a stud 31 on t e plate 10, the extended end 32 of the spring arm engaging a dog 33 which is pivoted to the plate 10 and adapted to engage the ratchet wheel 14 to prevent a rearward movement of the same when the pawl gagement of the extended end 32 with the dog, holding the spring arm into engagement with the pawl while the engagement-of the. spring arm with the pawl holds the extended end into enga ement with the dog.

The outer ace of the dial 13 is rovided with a plurality of numerals 34 equa in nummagazine 3. The dial is also provided with'a deslgnating zero which indicates when the magazine is empty and with a letter F to show that the magazine is full and when the magazine is filled with cartridges, the dial is manually rotated until the letter F is in regstration with an index point 35 from which position each removal of the cartridge from the magazine will be indicated.

In operation when the loading block 5 is elevated to dispose the cartridge in position beveled section 26 will engage the-tapered end of the plunger 23 and force the same outwardly, the tapered end 22 of the plunger engaging the tapered end of the pitman 19 and forcing the same downwardly which will result in rocking the beam 16 and cause the pawl 18 to rotate the ratchet wheel and dial a predetermined distance which reading from the outer face of the dial would be from F to 1, thereby indicating that one cartridge had been removed from the magazine and this operation is repeated until the dial has made a com lete rotation and the zero registered with t e index point 35 which would indicate that the magazine was empty.

Should the magazine be partially emptied and a new supply of cartridges placed in the magazine but not enough to entirely fill the same, the dial may be readily set to indicate the exact number of cartridges in the magazine has, for illustration, should the number 11 register with the index point 35 it.would indicate that there still remained within the magazine three cartridgesand should six ad-' ditional cartridges be placed in the magazine, the dial should then be rotated until the numeral 5 registers with the index point 35, thereby indicating that there were nine cartridges in the magazine assuming of'course, that the magazine holds '14 cartridges;

It will thus be seen that I have provided a.

' readily set to indicate any additional number of cartridges placed in the magazine when the magazine is partially em ty and while I have shown and described t e indicator as used in connection with a repeating rifle, it will be understood that the same may be used in connection with repeating shot guns with equal success. Y

What I claim is 1. The combination with a fire arm, hav-- ing a magazine, a loading block and means to raise and lower said loading block; ofa dial, means to mount said dial on the fire arm and a movable connection extending from said dial and in the ath of said loading block, whereby the dia will be rotated a pre-determined distance with each upward movement of'the loading block.

2. The combination with a firearm, having a magazine, loading blockand means to operate said loading block; of a dial, means to mountsaid dial on the firearm, a lun er, one end of which is in the path of sai loa g block and means engaged by the o posite end of said plunger to rotate said dia a predetermined distance in one direction.

3. The combination with a firearm having a loading block and means to raise and lower saidblock; of a dial havin a' plurality of indicating characters on the ace thereof, a housing for said dial, means to rotatably secure said dial to the firearm, a ratchet wheel integral with said dial and means interposed between said ratchet wheel and loading block to rotate said dial a predetermined distance when the loading block is raised.

4. The combination with afirearm having a loading block, and means to operate the same; of adial having a plurality of designating characters thereon, a casing forsaid dial,means to rotatably mount the dial upon the firearm, a ratchet wheel integral with said dial, a plunger, one end'of which is disposed in the path of the loading block, a pitman slidably mounted in said casing and adapted to be engaged by'the opposite end of said plunger and means between the free end of said pitman and the ratchet wheel to rotate said dial a predetermined distance when the plunger is directed into'engagement with the pitman.

5. The combination with a firearm; of a dial, a casin for said dial, means to rotatably mount the ial in the casing, a ratchet wheel on said dial, aplunger, meansbetween one 'end of said plunger and the ratchet wheel to rotate said ratchet wheel and dial 'a redetermined distance and means carried y the firearm to engage said lunger and move the.

same longitudinally w ereby the means between the plunger and ratchet wheel will be operated and the dial rotated.

6. The combination with a firearm having I a magazine to hold cartridges and means to convey the cartridges from the magazine to the exploding chamber of the firearm; of a dial rotatably mounted on said firearm, a

ratchet wheel integral with said dial, a

tudinally when the end of-said plunger cartridge conveying mechanism whereby the plunger, a pawl for said ratchet wheel, means to'hold said awl into engagement with said 7 ratchet whee operating means between said pawl and plunger to move said pawl longiplunger is operated, one

eing in the path of the.

dial wil be rotated a predetermined distance with each conveyance of a cartridge-from the magazine to the exploding chamber.

7. The combination with a firearm having a magazine and an exploding chamber and means to convey cartridges from the ma azine to the exploding chamber; of a dia having a plurality of designating characters on the face thereof, means to rotatably mount said dial on the firearm, a ratchet wheel on said dial, a rocking beam pivotally f'mounted below said dial, a pawl at one end of said rocking beam, means to direct the free end of said pawl into engagement with said ratchet wheel, a pitman at the o posite end of said rockin beam, said'pitman h a tapered upper end, a plunger, each end of which is tapered, one end of said lunger being adapted to engage the tapere end of the pitman, means to 'hold said plunger against rotation, the op osite end of said p unger extending into t e path of the caraving tridge conveying means whereby the dial will be moved a predetermined distance with each'operation of the conveying mechanism and means to hold the dial against inverse rotation;

In testimony whereof I have signed my nameto this specification-in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

RICHARD TANNER.

Witnesses:

LovELL FRAZIER,

ADAIR GALUSHA. 

